This list is designed to be a starting point for a cumulative conversation. Once you have gone through the list, I encourage all of you to add your own great and healthy food finds to the list through the comment section below. If we all work together and share this growing list with our friends and networks we can make this a truly incredible resource for anyone looking to overturn their diet.

We recently released an article entitled ‘10 Of The Worst Food Ingredients To Never Eat Again,’ which as the name suggests outlined 10 commonly found food ingredients we may want to consider cutting out of our diet. This article is designed to outline 9 (of the many foods) that would be an excellent addition to your diet.

This list is designed to be a starting point for a cumulative conversation. Once you have gone through the list, I encourage all of you to add your own great and healthy food finds to the list through the comment section below. If we all work together and share this growing list with our friends and networks we can make this a truly incredible resource for anyone looking to overturn their diet.

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I must confess I am late to the party in terms of raw cacao. That is strange as I love chocolate and don’t need much of an excuse to eat some. But, I actually came across raw cacao in one of the recent infographics on super foods that I ran right here on the blog. Turns out raw cacao is one of them. I bought mine from Terrasoul Superfoods on Amazon.

Secrets of Longevity says, “It turns out that all the bad things commonly attributed to non-raw chocolate bars, such as cavities, weight gain and diabetes, are actually caused by the dairy, sugar and others fillers added to the dark chocolate. Health benefits of chocolate when it is in the form of raw cacao beans, butter, nibs and/or the powder include; weight loss (because of its high chromium and coumarin content), prevention of cavities (theobromine actually kills streptococci mutans one of the strains of bacteria that cause tooth decay) and regulation of blood sugar which is beneficial for diabetes (chromium can naturally regulate blood sugar). Also raw cacao benefits the heart and the entire cardiovascular system as a whole.

“Cacao is the highest whole food source of magnesium, which also happens to be the most deficient mineral in the diet of modern cultures. Magnesium relaxes muscles, improves peristalsis in the bowels and relaxes the heart and cardiovascular system. The dark chocolate antioxidants have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure. Also, various other vitamins and minerals in raw cacao benefits the cardiovascular system.”

Now that you appetite has been whetted, how do you get this bitter, if wonderful, substance into your system? Here is a brief list: Continue reading →

“It’s too early to draw firm conclusions from our small study, and patients should discuss the need for vitamin D supplementation with their physician,” Henninger said. “However, the results do provide the impetus for further rigorous investigations into the association of vitamin D status and stroke severity. If our findings are replicated, the next logical step may be to test whether supplementation can protect patients at high risk for stroke.”

Stroke patients with low vitamin D levels were found to be more likely than those with normal vitamin D levels to suffer severe strokes and have poor health months after stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2015.

Low vitamin D has been associated in past studies with neurovascular injury (damage to the major blood vessels supplying the brain, brainstem, and upper spinal cord).

“Many of the people we consider at high risk for developing stroke have low vitamin D levels. Understanding the link between stroke severity and vitamin D status will help us determine if we should treat vitamin D deficiency in these high-risk patients,” said Nils Henninger, M.D., senior study author and assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worchester.

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All hail to Kale! As a person late to the joys of salads, I have only recently learned about the benefits of adding Kale to my diet.

For a sweet treat that’s hard to beat in the summer, I recommend peaches. Isn’t it neat to know that they strengthen the heart, boost immunity and aid in digestion BESIDES being melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

A short nap can help relieve stress and bolster the immune systems of men who slept only two hours the previous night, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Lack of sleep is recognized as a public health problem. Insufficient sleep can contribute to reduced productivity as well as vehicle and industrial accidents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, people who sleep too little are more likely to develop chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression.

Nearly three in 10 adults reported they slept an average of six hours or less a night, according to the National Health Interview Survey.

“Our data suggests a 30-minute nap can reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep,” said one of the JCEM study’s authors, Brice Faraut, PhD, of the Université…

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I hope this doesn’t seem too corny, but with all the flu and other illnesses circulating, the simple act of washing your hands thoroughly and regularly can protect you in more ways than you can imagine.

I can only add anecdotally that my girlfriend washes her hands all the time and never gets colds. I haven’t been and I do.

Regular readers know that I am against smoking and you can read my Page – How Bad is Smoking? for full details. So, I was understandably entertained by John Oliver’s latest rant against smoking in general and cigarette companies in particular.

John Oliver with Jeff The Diseased Lung who looks like a cowboy with his hat and boots, an homage to the Marlboro Man.

So, who is Jeff? He is Oliver’s compromise marketing creation for cigarette companies who are fighting ‘plain packaging’ laws put out to protect citizens from the harm of smoking cigarettes. Jeff is a diseased lung who wears a cowboy hat and boots to show simultaneously the fun and result of smoking cigarettes. Read on to learn of Jeff’s gestation.

Last night, John Oliver, the investigative journalist masquerading as a comedian on HBO, demonstrated that the companies who create and market those coffin nails are possibly more insidious than the cigarettes themselves.

Since the cigarette bans smoking rates have declined dramatically here in the U.S. Adult smoking rates have fallen from 43 percent in 1965 to 18 percent today as a result of the attention to smoking dangers, the banning of ads from TV and smoking warnings on cigarette packages.

However, despite this decline, cigarette manufacturers are making more money now than ever. The reason is that people outside the U.S. are smoking more.

Indonesia is the home of the ‘smoking baby.’ That two-year old whose story went viral when video of him smoking a cigarette was broadcast.

It turns out that Phillip Morris International has a kiosk right next to a grade school where kids can buy individual cigarettes during quick breaks from classes in Indonesia.

in 2011 Australia passed plain packaging laws that accentuated the SMOKING KILLS labels and relegated the brand name to smaller type on the bottom of the package.

The Marlboro Men haven’t fared well as a result of their smoking.

This plain packaging cut into cigarette sales and the companies sued to get the laws changed. They lost and Australia’s court ordered them to pay court costs and legal fees, describing the firms’ arguments as, “… delusive…”“…unreal and synthetic …”“That conclusion is fatal to the case…”

Nonetheless, the cigarette firms have taken their legal arguments to Uruguay and Togo to get those countries to change their laws. Those are significantly smaller countries than Australia. Their entire gross domestic products are dwarfed by the annual revenues of the tobacco companies. As a result this heavy-handed activity by the companies is winning.

To enjoy the full flavor of John Oliver’s presentation, please invest the 18 or so minutes to watch his YouTube video. I promise it’s a lot funnier than this blog post.

“Mushrooms are miniature pharmaceutical factories, and of the thousands of mushroom species in nature, our ancestors and modern scientists have identified several dozen that have a unique combination of talents that improve our health,” says leading mushroom research, Paul Stamets, who has written six books about mushrooms.

If you’re looking for a new food to boost your health and shake up your boring meal routine, mushrooms might be it. With over 100 thousand species of mushroom-forming fungi and huge health benefits, the mushroom is a little-known superstar. We often sprinkle mushrooms on our salads or add them to our casseroles. Next time add a few more handfuls of this ingredient–or, better yet, make it the main entree! Including a little more mushroom to your favorite meal is a tasty and rewarding move.

There are:

140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi.

Close to 100 types of mushrooms being studied for their health benefits.

A small number found to be very beneficial for boosting your immune system.

“Mushrooms are miniature pharmaceutical factories, and of the thousands of mushroom species in nature, our ancestors and modern scientists have identified several dozen that have a unique…

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Globally, in excess of 35 million people suffer dementia – in Denmark alone, there are approx. 80,000 who suffer this illness. Prevalence increases in step with aging, and as people’s life years are continually on the rise in most countries, there is also an increasing need to be able to identify the citizens who are at the greatest risk of suffering dementia.

Regular readers know that dementia and Alzheimer’s are both extremely important to me as my mother and her sister suffered from them. That is the primary reason I have written so much about the brain here. I consider myself to be genetically predisposed to some kind of mental failing. Over the past five years of blogging I have written numerousposts on the subject. To read further, please check my Page – Important Facts About Your Brain (and Exercise). The latest findings in neuroscience indicate that cardiovascular exercise sends oxygen molecules to the brain where new brain cells are created. Therein lies my hope (and yours) of escaping Cognitive Impairment.

Scientists at Rigshopitalet, Herlev Hospital and the University of Copenhagen identify a new biomarker that can predict the risk of developing dementia by way of a simple blood test. In the long term, this could mean better prevention and thus at least postponement of the illness and at best evading the development all together. The study was recently published in an internationally acclaimed journal, the Annals of Neurology.

Globally, in excess of 35 million people suffer dementia – in Denmark alone, there are approx. 80,000 who suffer this illness. Prevalence increases in step with aging, and as people’s life years are continually on the rise in most countries, there is also an increasing need to be able to identify the citizens who are at the greatest risk of suffering dementia.

As opposed to cardiovascular diseases, where the level of cholesterol in our blood indicates the risk of cardiac arrest, there…

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I thought this was a really good job of jamming a ton of solid information into a single infographic. I would add that regarding body composition, I posted on that with some useful information and stuff they didn’t cover on the infographic. The post is What is the Best Way to Measure Body Fat?

Having lived in the world of Finance for most of my adult life, I have picked up the Wall Street Journal every morning for more years than I care to remember. These days, I pick up my iPad to read it. Tuesdays the Journal has a Personal section which always highlights health issues. regular readers know that I often post on these stories.

I love that sentiment. Too many people focus on weight loss and only exercise as if they are paying the taxman. They don’t want to do it, but they feel like they have to in order to lose weight. The bad news is they don’t realize that the body needs regular exercise. Not just when you are trimming pounds.

The mantra of this blog is eat less; move more. I totally agree with the Journal story. I hope that you will too because your body will be a lot better off for it. “A recent study underscores that there are significant health benefits to overweight and obese people being physically active, even if they don’t lose a pound. The study, of 334,000 Europeans over 12 years, recorded twice as many deaths due to a lack of physical activity as due to obesity. Continue reading →